Poland Nationalizes Retirement Accounts!

Reuters is reporting that Poland has just nationalized their retirement system via a pension fund “overhaul”, a move Poland claims will reduct is public debt by 8 pct of GDP thanks to the theft of their citizens retirement savings.
The plan calls for private pension funds to be forceably converted to a state guaranteed system, without providing retirement holders ANY COMPENSATION!The Polish pension funds’ organisation said the changes may be unconstitutional because the government is taking private assets away from them without offering any compensation.

This is coming to a modern Western nation closer to home soon. Those who bite the bullet and pay the penalty to extricate themselves from retirement positions can prevent a full loss to their retirement savings and wealth should a similar forced pension/401k conversion occur.

* Reform moves bond assets from private to state fund
* Some equity assets to gradually move to state as well
* Changes seen reducing Polish public debt by 8 pct of GDP
* Funds say moves could be unconstitutional
* Warnings that private pension funds could be wiped out

WARSAW, Sept 4 (Reuters) – Poland said on Wednesday it will transfer to the state many of the assets held by private pension funds, slashing public debt but putting in doubt the future of the multi-billion-euro funds, many of them foreign-owned.

The changes went deeper than many in the market expected and could fuel investor concerns that the government is ditching some business-friendly policies to try to improve its flagging popularity with voters.

The Polish pension funds’ organisation said the changes may be unconstitutional because the government is taking private assets away from them without offering any compensation.

Announcing the long-awaited overhaul of state-guaranteed pensions, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said private funds within the state-guaranteed system would have their bond holdings transferred to a state pension vehicle, but keep their equity holdings.

He said that what remained in citizens’ pension pots in the private funds will be gradually transferred into the state vehicle over the last 10 years before savers hit retirement age.

The reform is “a decimation of the …(private pension fund) system to open up fiscal space for an easier life now for the government,” said Peter Attard Montalto of Nomura. “The government has an odd definition of private property given it claims this is not nationalisation.”

Tusk said people joining the pension system in the future would not be obliged to pay into the private part of the system. Depending on the finer points, this could mean still fewer assets in the private funds.

People are often unaware of things like this due to their slow rate of movement. If this was happening at a faster rate, we would be seeing a lot more people aware of this as a threat to their financial future. As it is, well, this is happening in a foreign country a long way from here… or so goes the thinking. Unfortunately, they are forgetting the saying “what goes around, comes around”. Pension plan grabs are a symptom of a failed government, IMO, and it is extremely difficult to look at the results achieved by the people in the US government and see any measurable success. Yes, this likely IS coming to the US but we have no idea when it will arrive.

I don’t know Ed. I do know a wonderful Polish fellow and his sons working in building renovation here and years ago they were very anxious to know all I could tell them about physical PMs. They had a regular rotation of Polish friends and relations come work a few months and go back to Poland (sort of like Polish Campesinos, I guess) so it appears they had lots of communication back and forth. What info they swapped and how serious they became in accumulation, I can’t say. But they sure asked a lot about it.

That’s good to know, Pat. I am sure that many of the people in central Europe are well acquainted with failed paper currencies during the WW-I to WW-II time frame. Perhaps it was this that spiked their interest? My comment wasn’t so much that the Poles aren’t interested in PMs as whether or not they could get them in one of their retirement plans. Most governments are pretty picky about what can be included in these plans… our own included.

Also, since this appears to be pensions only, most beneficiaries have little to no say on where those funds are invested. I have a very small pension that i accumulated before the company stopped providing them, happy to know that in 30ish years i’ll get about $200 a month! I have no say on where those dollars are invested, i just get a note every year that tells me how well the pension is funded.

Pat I just read some reports on these thefts. They are mostly accounts holding bonds. A government spokesperson said they are considerin going after equities later.
Aside from the fact that this is to reduce the Debt to GDP ratio by bailing out the government and their straphanging banks, it is all about illegal and unconstitutional theft of private property
Poland is the 11th nation to pursue these actions in the last 10 yrs. The first 9 were mostly PIIGS and South American countries.
We are the 10th given that the government has been stealing from the Federal Thrift 401k programs of federal employees. That’s forestalled any further increase in national debt and kept the USG coffers filled and paying the bills—–for now. After that, they will come for ours. The tipping point could be the UST rate going to 5%, China bond dump or something of a similar nature. Just a guess but the trends are in place

“Aside from the fact that this is to reduce the Debt to GDP ratio by bailing out the government and their straphanging banks, it is all about illegal and unconstitutional theft of private property”

Two things, AG. First, these money grubbing thieves ought to be hung by those straps and the attachment point should be selectable by the people whose money is being stolen. Second, since when have commies EVER had any respect for “private property”? We’d better believe that there are still plenty of commies in Poland, just as there are in Russia and other former Soviet-block states. Considering the crap that is going on in this country, I am coming around to agreeing with your point of view on these retirement plan thefts. The stage IS being set for this. They seem to be yet another form of the “bail-in” nonsense, where those who are not responsible for giant economic and financial f***-ups get to pay for them, while those who are responsible skate free and clean of the whole mess. Is it too late to bring back drawing and quartering for these cretins?

Yep, here it comes. It’s like following a playbook while watching the actors move about the stage. The weird part is that most people think you’re nuts when you suggest that these things are coming. What a stellar use of indoctrination played upon us all these years. Sad so many don’t have the eyes to see it as those are the ones who will suffer the most. It’s not like the evidence is hard to find.

On a more positive note, the awakening is at a fevered pitch. When 90% polled say no to war with Syria, that tells quite a bit. Military especially are seeing the truth now and leaning towards the oath to the Constitution that they all took. We have a chance here, however limited. I’ll take it!

“Sad so many don’t have the eyes to see it as those are the ones who will suffer the most. It’s not like the evidence is hard to find.”

Yes, it is, but we can all sympathize with most of our fellow Americans on this issue because we understand that the drone of propaganda is not only relentless but mind-numbing as well… and no doubt on purpose at that.

“On a more positive note, the awakening is at a fevered pitch.”

Agreed. But the jury is still out on if Obama’s plan to suck the congress into supporting the Syria mess back-fires and they refuse to support it. What happens if he goes ahead and does it anyway? Nothing good, I’ll wager.

It still IS called stealing if those who do it are not politically connected. Political connection was THE ONLY difference between Bernie Madoff and Jon Corzine. Their behavior otherwise appears to have been identical.

The craft of successful propaganda is to intersperce a lot of selective, verifiable fact used to SEEMINGLY justify a core message to be subliminally accepted, though the message is diametrically opposed to what the listener may know is not in his best interest.

That ‘Whendashtf’ interview was a fascinatingly expert example of such a piece of propaganda. It was a pitch for willing acceptance of Collectivist Social Order to emerge from this ensuing event.

As I’ve been repeatedly harping throughout my time on this forum … Paper Rots, Coin Does Not. For all of the ‘hot buttons’ that speaker hit, two themes kept resurfacing … that continuation of the scheme of banknotes (under direct government issue, rather than under the banks) ‘will’ continue through the feint of metallic ‘backing’ and that the mathematically impossible promise of Collectivism ‘will’ be instituted globally.

Now, I’ve gone to great length explaining how and why this and any other virtual ‘money’ scheme must logically come to ruin by inescapable design constraints inevitably resulting in their self-destruction. I’ve also taken as much care delineating why the metallic scheme is overwhealmingly superior because it naturally, automatically and objectively meshes all supply-demand realities (however much or often they temporarily become disjoint) into a matrix-wide conuinuum of optimal rationality that constantly trends toward equilibrium of value inter-relationships.

The speaker betrayed himself at the very end when he declared the blatant falsity that ‘abundance is unlimited’. If that were true, then there would be no need for paper ‘money’ to exist, as all the silver and gold desirable could be had … wouldn’t it?

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